Is Exercise a Waste of Time or a Productivity Enhancer?
To determine if a daily exercise bout is truly a waste of time, let’s delve into the nitty-gritty research on whether or not exercise makes you productive.
Ben Greenfield
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Is Exercise a Waste of Time or a Productivity Enhancer?
Let’s face it. When you have a pressing task to finish at work, a task that has a hard deadline, it can feel like a complete waste of time to check out for 30, 45 or 60 minutes to go get in a weight training session or a bike ride or a run. Why not just stay at work, put your nose to the grind stone and get your task done? It really does seem at first glance that exercise is simply a waste of time or an excuse to procrastinate, right?
When it comes to work, getting chores done around the house, writing an article, learning a musical instrument, or anything else, is it really worth it to take precious time out of the day to exercise? While you’re spending an hour at the gym or out walking in the neighborhood, couldn’t you instead be using that time to finish an important project, or perhaps working ahead a bit to earn some vacation days?
Well, to determine if a daily exercise bout is truly a waste of time, let’s delve into the nitty-gritty research on whether or not exercise makes you productive, shall we?
Is Exercise Really a Waste Of Time?
Last week, I weighed in on this topic on my colleague Stever Robbins’ opens in a new windowGet-It-Done Guy podcast. You can hear more about my feelings on exercise and productivity in this week’s episode (listen in the top right hand player or on iTunes and Stitcher). Or read much more about opens in a new windowhow to make time to workout here. Today, I’m covering similar topics, with a little more extended information for people who are interested.
What to Do If You Really Don’t Have Time to Exercise
Let’s say that you really, truly don’t have the time to exercise. Well, you can still get many of the mental and physical benefits of a formal exercise session by getting creative with your movement. Here are five Quick and Dirty Tips:
1) Wear a weighted vest or weight ankle weights and or wrist weights while you’re moving around at home or at the office so that you can burn some extra calories
2) Keep your room, your home, or your office slightly cool, such as 55 to 60°F, so you burn extra calories generating heat while you’re working
3) Use grip strengthening devices like hand grip strengtheners, stress balls that you can squeeze, or elastic bands that you force your hand to open against to train your forearms, wrist, and hands while you’re working at your office (a side benefit of this is that it reduces the potential for carpal tunnel and elbow pain from computer work)
4) Twitch! Do neck and head circles, shoulder shrugs, tap your feet, chew gum, stand up, sit down, lunge, kneel. Constantly fidgeting throughout the day has been shown to boost calorie burn significantly
5) Get a kettle bell. A kettle bell is probably the most versatile exercise tool, and is highly portable, and doesn’t take up much space at all. When you have a quick break at work, you can pull out from under your desk and do exercises similar to the ones that I demonstrate in this video.
Do you think exercise is a waste of time or do you think it makes you more productive? Join the conversation at Facebook.com/getfitguy.